Newport High School enters another year with its’ esports teams competing. Starting under a former teacher, Jason Seiber, Newport’s esports teams have grown in popularity and competitiveness over the past several years.

The preseason for all teams recently concluded, and the regular season has begun for all teams. While preseason is optional for teams, two teams used this opportunity to practice against other teams. Both Rocket League and Overwatch participated in one of their preseason games, gathering experience from their future opponents and learning how to work as a team.

Newport’s varsity esports has several teams divided between the games in which they participate. This year, the games being played are Rocket League, Splatoon 3, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Overwatch 2, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Unfortunately, not enough players were available to have a League of Legends team, the first esport to be played at Newport.

The Rocket League team consists of seniors Benny Stewart, Nate Stuck, and junior Bradley Zettlemoyer, with junior backups Kaiden Barnes and Tyler Kelly.

The Splatoon 3 team consists of senior Benjamin Elrod, juniors Avery Huey and Evans Zackel, and Sophomore Ethan Reader.

The Super Smash Bros Ultimate team consists of senior Jacob Kolmansberger, Sophomore Khriztofer Granados, and freshman Judah Zeigler, with sophomore backup Andrew Mclean on the roster.

The Mario Kart team consists of Elrod, Kolmansberger, Zackiel, and Zeigler.

The Overwatch 2 team consists of Kolmansberger, juniors Alyssa Baughman, Axel Brown, Hunter Patrick, Hadley Reed, and Barnes.

So far, the teams have been struggling to put wins on the table, with Rocket League being the only team with a positive record. 

“Performance-wise, my teams are doing fairly well, but we struggle in our fall seasons mostly due to participation,” said Coach Logan Bower. “Many players have had other sports to contest with, like football and band, as well as simply adjusting to things during this new school year.”

So far, the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate team is 1-5, the Rocket League team is 3-2, the Mario Kart team is 1-3, the Splatoon 3 team is 0-4, and the Overwatch 2 team is 2-2.

Coach Bower said, “…many of my returning players from last year are doing much better. It’s pretty clear they have improved more from season to season.”

The teams have one more week of games before heading into a bye week. After that, the remaining few weeks will be played, and any eligible teams will move on to the state-wide playoffs.